Ken Anderson - update.

Who plays good football in a relegation scrapping side (of any English division).

Swansea, sometimes - maybe?

There aren't many teams hoofing it to a little guy.

Can’t argue, but remember we’re not doing that by Parky’s choice. If he had his way we’d have a replacement for Madine in.

He didn't get a replacement though and yet he still ends up hoofing it to ALF and now that hasn't worked he wastes Ameobi's talents by expecting him to be the target man even though it's plain to everyone he can't actually head a ball!
A good coach or manager should be able to adapt and not blindly keep doing the same thing in the hope it just might work.

I am sure like me that you will all be feeling a fresh wave of optimism following Nottingham Forest’s victory against Barnsley on Tuesday evening – a result that ensured our destiny is back in our own hands.

We know what we must do in our final two games, against Burton Albion on Saturday and Forest the following week - and we mustn’t get distracted by other games affecting other teams in the league.

There are similar parallels to last season in that our final two games then – against Port Vale away and Peterborough United at Macron Stadium – allowed us to control our own fate.

If we can achieve the same results in our final games, then we may consider this season to be an even more successful one than the last campaign.

Our support at Port Vale, and at home to Peterborough, was nothing short of phenomenal and without a doubt played a key role in us picking up those vital victories.

On Saturday, at Burton, we could have easily sold many thousands more tickets but unfortunately we were limited in what we could sell due to the restricted capacity at Pirrelli Stadium.

But I know for a fact, that those of you who will be travelling there will sing your hearts out for the players on the pitch and you will represent all those fellow fans who missed out on tickets.

We won’t underestimate Burton whatsoever, who themselves will feel that they can get the results that may see them climb the table. It will be tough, but our players are more than up for the challenges that lie ahead.

I cannot wait for the match and to witness your truly inspiring passion at first hand, just like we experienced at Oakwell a couple of weeks ago.

This season has had many twists and turns, as predicted, but to get here with just two games to go knowing that our Sky Bet Championship fate is in our own hands is more than we could have asked for at the beginning of the campaign.

Both home and away, you have stuck with us throughout and I cannot thank you enough for your passion and loyalty.

Being pragmatic, we must expect that nothing will be resolved until the final day of the season when we take on Forest, regardless of our result against Burton, and we hope that all the Bolton Family will be out in force at Macron Stadium to give us that final lift on Sunday 6 May.

As always, let's be loud, let's be proud and let’s get behind the team.

Ken

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Loud and proud. That'll do it.

Following yesterday’s very disappointing result against Burton Albion I think that there is no point in me adding my comments and that everything that needs to be said has already been said in the media and on the social media channels and by the manager.

There has been a great deal of comment about the defensive strategy and team setup recently and we have taken this on board and having discussed this with the manager, l can assure you, that there will be a positive and offensive line up against Nottingham Forest this Sunday.

As l said in my notes recently, now is not the time to discuss the pros and cons of what has happened in recent games, there will be plenty of time for that after next Sunday, although I fully understand and share your hurt, frustrations and concerns. I can assure you they will all be addressed, as l intend to hold a no-holds-barred Q&A with you our loyal supporters and season ticket holders in a couple of weeks’ time after the dust has settled and everyone has had the time to gather their thoughts when everything will be clearer and calmer.

In the meantime, l continue to have a positive attitude and remain a glass half full type and believe in the saying, "Where there’s life there’s hope’. We still have a fair chance of staying up, albeit that we are now relying on other results, as well as our own and with Burton, Barnsley, Birmingham and Reading having very difficult games against Preston, Derby, Fulham and Cardiff respectively - everything is still to play for.

It Is vitally important that the Bolton Family all put recent results behind us, especially for our final game, as you all have done all season, and turn out in number to turn Macron Stadium into a wall of white and full of your vociferous backing for one final time this season and ensure that we achieve what we set out to do at the beginning of the campaign and retain Sky Bet Championship status.

At the risk of repeating myself, once again, l urge everyone of you, our loyal season ticket holders and supporters, to come along this Sunday at 12.30pm for what is now the most crucial and important game of the season, and also encourage your friends, family and colleagues to join you, as our need has never been greater. Tickets can be bought HERE.

Obviously, it will be a difficult and high tension game, but l truly believe, that it is winnable and if we can replicate the performance and vociferous support at home, that we achieved against Cardiff, Bristol City and Aston Villa earlier in the season, then we have a great opportunity to achieve the result that we so desperately need.

I am sure l don’t need to remind you of how over 22,000 of you that got behind the team for the final game last season against Peterborough significantly helped to achieve promotion. Hopefully, you will all return and do the same this Sunday and ensure that we retain our Championship status, which in my opinion, would be an even greater achievement than promotion and then to return next season, better prepared to consolidate our position in the second tier.

It’s never been more important than now to be loud and proud and get fully behind the team for one final push this season.

Kind regards

Ken

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Well said Ken, let me pick the team.

Parky will finally get what he's been playing for the last few weeks on Sunday, a draw!!
Why let a trip to the Macron fuck up a good weekend Ken?
I've had enough fucked up this season!

Leeds_Trotter wrote:


Well said Ken, let me pick the team.

Lets face it- we could all do better than Parkinson at picking the team. Will this be his swansong?

Whatever you think of Parkinson. Ken getting involved in team selection is absolutely ridiculous.

Complete and utter lack of respect for a principled man.

It's not as ridiculous as picking a defensive side for a massive game against a team below you with the worst home record in the league.

While I agree it's unorthodox, I fully support his words.

If we beat Nottingham Forest with an attacking display Ken should make himself manager.

I agree with Nat apart from the bit about making KA manager 

Why does he mention Reading having a tough game?  No matter how attacking the  team Ken picks I can't see us scoring 14 goals.

Dodgy territory for me this.

Undermining the manager is an admission of failure on his own part. He should have addressed the situation long ago if he didn't like Parkinson's negative approach because it has been a consistent issue all season. Throwing his weight around when we're dead and buried is far too late.

Also, a chairman going public over influencing team selection won't appeal to potential future managers. A massive mistake IMO.

Agreed. The guy is a disgrace

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Agreed. The guy is a disgrace

It may not be his place to say it, but somebody has to say something when the manager is floundering. Anderson is a desperate man as his business plan continues to go up in smoke so in some ways it's not surprising that it's come from him.
However it's one thing to haul an employee over the coals when they are underperforming so badly, but it should be done in private and not via a press release. There was no need. If Parkinson goes with an attacking format he could have done so on the day and nobody would have thought twice about it so it comes across as the owner trying to ingratiate himself to the fans - and perhaps start to put some distance between himself and the manager?

finlaymcdanger wrote:Dodgy territory for me this.

Undermining the manager is an admission of failure on his own part. He should have addressed the situation long ago if he didn't like Parkinson's negative approach because it has been a consistent issue all season. Throwing his weight around when we're dead and buried is far too late.

Also, a chairman going public over influencing team selection won't appeal to potential future managers. A massive mistake IMO.

Correct.

DEANO82 wrote:Why does he mention Reading having a tough game?  No matter how attacking the  team Ken picks I can't see us scoring 14 goals.

We can hardly score 14 goals in a season!

I would like to begin these notes by congratulating our Under-23s who have progressed to the Professional Development League final following their play-off victory against Charlton Athletic on Tuesday evening.


A huge congratulations must go to David Lee, his staff, the players and everybody involved in their success this season, especially as they finished top of the northern group.

We of course wish them well in their final against Nottingham Forest this Friday evening at the City Ground.

A special mention must also go to everybody involved with our Under-18s who reached the play-offs too, but were unlucky not to reach the final. Well done to everybody involved!

It was great to see such a fantastic turnout for Burnden Leisure’s AGM on Tuesday morning and I would like to thank everybody who came. It was the first such meeting held in four years and I feel it is crucially important that we continue to provide regular opportunities for all our stakeholders to meet with the club’s officers.

We also had time to field a somewhat impromptu Q&A session for all the shareholders in attendance which I hope shed more light on matters.

As I mentioned in my last set of notes, I’ll be holding a more general no-holds-barred-Q&A for all our season ticket holders and supporters. I will of course update you all on the date and time of this.

Ticket, hospitality and sponsorship sales are going very well for Sunday’s Sky Bet Championship game against Nottingham Forest with our opponents selling out of their allocation of just over 2,000 tickets.

We still need the entire Bolton Family to come along and cheer on the team for this crucial match. Tickets are available now and can be purchased by clicking [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

Keep your eyes peeled later this week for Bolton Central’s end of season sale which will see big reductions on selected lines throughout the store. Now is the time to bag a bargain and wear your colours with pride for one final time this season.

Next week, we shall also be announcing our season ticket pricing for the 2018/19 campaign.

As always, being a season ticket holder will guarantee you the best prices for each of our league fixtures as well as providing you with many other benefits. I really hope that you all renew and encourage your family, friends and colleagues.

The EFL is currently encouraging supporters to take part in a survey in relation to safe standing at football stadia. I would like to encourage as many of you as possible to share your views, while more details can be found [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

The EFL are also putting to a vote, among the clubs, about whether or not to continue with the traditional match day programmes.

Currently, it is a mandatory requirement that all clubs produce them. However, some clubs would like to move away from this. It is our intention to continue with programmes for the foreseeable future but the club would really like to hear your thoughts and suggestions for them going forward.

Please email your feedback and thoughts on safe standing and the matchday programme to our Head of Marketing and Communications, Paul Holliday, via [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].uk. Your views are really important to us.

Throughout the summer, and before next season gets underway, we have a number of events in the stadium including the Sam Sexton v Hughie Fury British Heavyweight Title fight in the Premier Suite on Saturday 12 May.

Both boxers will be holding a public workout in the Premier Suite prior to this Sunday’s fixture against Nottingham Forest, details of which will be confirmed on the club's channels.

I had a pleasing and encouraging meeting with the hotel management team who are continually working on bringing in other high profile events and conferences which bring in vital income for our business.

On Monday 28 May at 6:30pm, there will be an exclusive preview screening of football comedy film ‘The Bromley Boys’ ahead of its general release on June 1.

It is a funny, feel-good, coming-of-age comedy, and as well as the screening there will be a Q&A session with some of the cast.

This weekend meanwhile, the Premier Suite will be hosting the Inspire Women’s Awards, which celebrates the huge wealth of outstanding contributions women have made to the wider Bolton area.

In June, there will be a Thai boxing tournament, while the Premier Suite will be holding a very special evening with former England footballer Paul Gascoigne on Saturday 2 June.

It will be a very busy summer indeed with The Killers and Little Mix concerts also taking place in July.

The hotel has had a great 12 months and is in line to attract some major international conferences over the next few months. The coming year is set to bring in record revenues and we are looking forward to making some exciting announcements over the coming weeks in regards to new events.

It is testament to our stature as a leading multipurpose sports and entertainment venue that we are now well and truly back on the map.

Please visit the Bolton Whites Hotel [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] or follow them on social media to keep up to date with what’s going on.

As always however, let's be loud, be proud and get behind the boys as we aim to get the three points that may secure our place in the Sky Bet Championship.

Kind regards,

Ken

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